A Winner is Two: Starkiller
by The Shadow Syndicate
Summary: Darth Vader's former apprentice finds himself in a tournament run by a mysterious Organization. Will Hope prevail or shall the Dark Side consume him?
1. Chapter 1

**A Winner is Two: Starkiller**

_Unknown Island_

Starkiller woke to the sounds of gulls crying in the air. He opened his eyes to find himself on a beach of somekind. He grunted and pushed himself up off the sand. A sharp pain burst through his head and he fell back to the sand in agony. Memories assaulted his vision.

The Death Star. His fight with Vader. Senator Organa and his friends captured. Slaughtering thousands of stormtroopers and innocents alike. Shaak Ti as she fell into the Sarlaac Pit. His father. The Wookies as they cheered their cry of freedom. Smiling as he shocked an alien to death. The snap hiss of a lightsaber igniting. The smell of ash as he watched Imperial machines burn.

His mouth opened up in a silent scream and he fell down on the beach sobbing. All his life had been wasted. He had been in the servitude of others for his entire existence. His only companions were likely dead.

Speaking of dead. Didn't he die while trying to kill the emperor? Starkiller rubbed his arms and patted his torso. He was alive! At least it felt like he was alive. This was strange. He clearly remembered becoming one with the force to save the new Rebel Alliance.

Something at his feet caught his attention. It was an envelope. Starkiller snatched it off the sand and tore open the letter. The contents of the envelope fell out at his feet. It was a headset and what looked like an audio player.

Starkiller fitted the earphones snuggly on his head before he turned his attention to the audio player. He fumbled with the buttons before he finally got it to work.

_"Hello Starkiller. I bet you are wondering why you are suddenly alive." _a booming metalized voice spoke.

Starkiller inwardly flinched. The voice sounded similar to his former Master's. What if this was all a trap by Vader?

_"I am not your Darth Vader in case you were wondering. I am known as Executive One. Bringing you back to life was no easy task, even to my supreme abilities. Almost lost my soul to a demon again as I wandered the astral plane."_

Starkiller narrowed his eyes. Something was off about this man. He was speaking nonsense, there were no such things as demons.

_"However I did not bring you back for free. I expect you to fight, in a tournament. You cannot escape this island. An energy barrier surrounds the island and the center of the Volcano. Should you win you will be provided funds and transport to where you wish to go. Loose. Well, let's just say one of our employees will be adding another saber to his collection. Good Luck." _Executive One said.

Starkiller glared at the audio player. He did not trust the man, yet he couldn't refuse his offer either. He was at an impasse. During the past when he was trying to make a difficult choice he always had others to make it for him. This time however he was alone, without support and without information.

He would play this little game for now. But when he was through, Vader and the Empire would burn.

Starkiller activated his red lightsaber and headed inland. If there were Jedi he would ally himself with them, or destroy them.

-

Starkiller's entry.


	2. The Key of Destiny

**A Winner is two: Starkiller**

_Grand cross Island_

Galen Marek, otherwise known as Starkiller sat underneath a shady tree trying to avoid the sun. He had been on the island for almost a month trying to figure out how to get off the small stretch of land. So far he had discovered that an impenetrable force field had created a barrier all around the island. A climb to a summit of the volcano was also impossible due to the thick noxious fumes surrounding the mountain. There were also barriers around the volcano itself, no doubt concealing a base of operations.

There were also several disturbing things he had discovered upon in his short stay. Almost from the get go he had noticed several life signs vanish immeadiatly, no doubt the deaths of contestants echoing through the force. He had also sensed several powerful auras around the island. One was definetly a force user, he was unsure about the other auras. Then there was the matter of the strange black hooded men he had observed patrolling parts of the island/

A loud squawk brought the young ex-apprentice out of his musings. In his meditative state he could feel the vibrations of footsteps echoing through the sand. Starkiller gripped his lightsaber and stood up. He soon saw what was disturbing the local wildlife.

A person was dressed in a black hooded cloak with silver tasles entered his line of vision. The person carried in his hands two giant keys?

'Bizzare.' Starkiller noted.

"Who are you?" the former apprentice of Darth Vader asked.

"A contestant just like you." the soft spoken reply came.

Starkiller grasped his blade and held it behind him in his usual fighting stance. The lightsaber's blade ignighted with a sudden hiss. A blood red blade extended from the saber's hilt casting an errie red glow around him. The smell of ozone hung lightly in the air as he brought the saber in front of him in a defensive stance.

"Interesting. Your weapon is similar to that of the Superior's own." the black cloaked figure said.

Starkiller's gaze softened into confusion. Was this person's Superior a Jedi Knight? He had to be sure, and to be sure he needed to ask only one question.

"What is the color of your Superior's blade?" he asked.

The person shifted their head to the side.

"Red." the person answered.

Starkiller's resolve hardened and he glared venomously at the black hooded warrior.

"Name." Starkiller asked as his anger began to rise.

"Roxas." the person said taking off his hood. A brown haired man with blue eyes was revealed as the hood came off.

Starkiller felt anger and contempt coursing through his veins as he saw his opponant grasp the two weapons in his hands. With a savage cry he dashed towards the young man using the force to enhance his speed. Roxas barely blocked the blow as the saber connected with keyblade.

'He is fast. Almost as fast as Xigbar.' Roxas thought as he dug his heels into the soft sand.

Starkiller pushed against the keyblades with his saber intending to drive his opponent back. Roxas resited and managed to hold his ground. The keyblade wielder thrusted forward with his weapons sending Starkiller sprawling onto the ground.

'Use your hatred. It makes you stronger.' the whisper of Darth Vader's voice filtered through his mind. Starkiller shook his head trying to clear his thoughts when he was struck hard in the stomach by Roxas. He gathered a small bit of energy in his hands and pushed the young man away from him. He stood up and grabbed his lightsaber.

Roxas gritted his teeth and dodged to the side as Starkiller let loose a bolt of force lightning at him. Roxas counter-attacked throwing Oathkeeper and catching the apprentice off guard. The white metal blade was barely blocked by his lightsaber when Roxas socked Starkiller in the face with a punch.

'He is strong. Perhaps even my equal.' Roxas thought.

Starkiller sprawled backwards unto the ground and held a hand to his jaw. Roxas dove towards the man, blades outstretched. Starkiller opened his hand and let a burst of force lightning out. Just as intended the lightning struck the blade electrocuting the keyblade master.

"So you can use magic." Roxas said.

"This isn't magic, it is the power of the force." Starkiller said standing up.

Roxas smiled and swung a keyblade over his shoulder. He let it rest there as Starkiller approached with lightsaber in hand. He reached his hand forward as if to grab something.

"What are you?" Starkiller began to say before he was knocked into the air by a piller of light? Roxas then threw Oblivion towards the apprentice. Starkiller used the force to right himself in the air and threw his lightsaber at the oncoming keyblade. The two weapons clashed in the air as Starkiller landed on the ground. As the two weapons returned to their owners hands Starkiller used the force to grab the Organization member and throw him against a tree.

Roxas grunted in pain as he was held against the tree. Starkiller approached slowly keeping a careful grip on his lightsaber. Just as he was about to end the young Nobody's life a ball of light hit the force user in the head. Roxas dropped to the ground and ran over to Starkiller.

Starkiller blasted Roxas away with the force and stood up again.

"Your fighting style is interesting." Starkiller remarked.

"You are not too bad yourself." Roxas said.

They both shared a grin before dashing towards each other. Roxas struck first, bashing the side of Starkiller's torso with Oathkeeper. Starkiller struck back managing to land a hit on Roxas, giving him a partial burn on his left arm. Roxas held his arm in pain and glared at Starkiller.

He held his hands out and he threw a barrage of force lightning at the black hooded warrior. Roxas rolled to the side and kicked off the ground. He lept into the air and sliced through a tree branch with his keyblades. He kicked the brach towards Starkiller and jumped to the side. Starkiller sliced through the branch with ease but them was caught off guard when he was struck from behind by Roxas.

'To defeat him you will need the full power of the dark side at your command.' Vader's voice echoed through his mind. Starkiller gritted his teeth and forced the voice of his former master out of his mind.

'There is much anger in him. Perhaps that anger could cloud his judgement.' Roxas thought to himself. He raised Oathkeeper and struck it against the ground sending up a great cloud of sand. Starkiller angrilly gathered the force around him and repulsed the sand from the air with a shockwave of force energy.

When the dust cleared Roxas was nowhere to be found. Before him was a thick underbrush of wild trees and exotic bushes. Worse yet was the fact that he could not sense Roxas's life sign. It was as if he was gone, invisible to the force. He had heard of Ysalmari, creatures who negated the force around them cutting off connection from force users. This was somewhat different since Starkiller had access to the force while fighting him.

"Come on out Roxas!" Starkiller yelled. Laughter echoed from within the bushes in reply to his angry outburst. Starkiller clenched his saber and began hacking away through the vast undergrowth.

'Anger and rage can cloud judgement. Use that to outwit your opponent.' Roxas mentally said as he remembered his lessons with Axel. He darted just out of the apprentice's reach leaping from tree branch to tree branch. He could hear his cursing and the slashing of his red lightsaber.

Starkiller angrilly tossed his saber forwards causing it to topple some of the trees. His anger was rewarded by a glimpse of the black outfit of his opponent. He jumped in the air and dashed forward only to be kneed in the stomach. As he doubled over Roxas beat down upon his back with both blades cutting into his abdoman. Starkiller let loose a strangled cry and fell into the undergrowth.

"Maybe he is finally dead." Roxas said to himself. A blast of force energy propelled the apprentice into the air and he landed on a tree branch.

"You will find that it takes much more than that to kill me." Starkiller said as he gripped the handle of his lightsaber.

"I guess so." Roxas replied before leaping forward and raising Oathkeeper and Oblivion above his head. Starkiller dodged the dealy blow and jumped onto another tree branch. Roxas turned and leaped towards his opponent. Starkiller raised his lightsaber and blocked the two blades.

"I'm not going to loose to you." Roxas said as he pushed against the lightsaber.

"Yes. You. WILL!!" Starkiller yelled pushing Roxas off balance. He jumped down after the nobody, his saber clashing with keyblades as they fell. Roxas landed and rolled away as Starkiller almost impaled him on the ground. He recovered and lashed out at the apprentice with a flurry of rapid strikes. Starkiller could barely keep up with the berserker like rage that Roxas was assaulting him with.

Roxas managed to send Starkiller sprawling on the floor of the forrest. Thorns and sharp leaves tore through his skin like a knife through butter. The tiny cuts hurt worse than the two gashes in his backside. As Starkiller groaned in pain Roxas stood above him on a tree branch.

'Finally. With him out of the way I can advance through the tournemant and get off this island.' Roxas thought as he brought down both keyblades as he jumped at the fallen apprentice. Starkiller managed to block the strike albiet weakly with his lightsaber. Even now he could feel exhaustion and pain washing over him, weakening his battered form than it already was.

"Give up. It's finished." Roxas said as he put pressure on his keyblades.

"Never." Starkiller said as he gathered force energy in his hands. Weak strands of force lightning coursed through the saber and Roxas withdrew his keyblades as he got shocked. Starkiller pushed himself up off the floor and weakly held the lightsaber in his hands. The pain was almost unbeareble at this point.

Roxas smiled. He could tell that this young man was at the end of his rope. The battle had been an enjoyable one, the man was much more of a challenge than any heartless. Still he had to finish this quickly before the young man recovered. This close to the Volcano he had a chance of leaving this tournament and go back to The World that Never was, back to Axel, and back to Kingdom Hearts.

"You are barely standing. Just stand aside and I won't have to kill you." Roxas said.

"I can't do that." Starkiller responded.

"Very well then." Roxas said before runnning towards him. He easily battered away Starkiller's weapon and knocked him away. He pounded again and again on the apprentice's form slashing deeper into his sensitive flesh as the man tried to evade each swing.

Starkiller was at wits end. He was going to loose, he was about to die. As he tried in vain to evade each slice of Roxas' blades he recalled something Vader had set.

'Give into to your hate.'

Starkiller's eyes clouded over in rage and leaped away from the Keyblade master. Right now he was angry at Roxas. This boy was trying to take away his only chance of seeing Juno again. He was trying to deny him from helping Master Kota and the rebels. He hated Roxas right now. No. He LOATHED Roxas.

Starkiller held his hand outstretched towards the boy. Roxas stiffened suddenly in mid swing. Starkiller raised his arm and threw the boy onto the ground. Then he smashed him against a tree. He then threw him headfirst into a boulder. He quickly called his lightsaber to him and leaped towards the boy.

"DIE!!" he yelled as he plunged the lightsaber into Roxas' chest. Starkiller angrilly twisted the blade causing the boy more pain.

"Ugh." Roxas grunted as the apprentice twisted his blade. Starkiller smiled. He wanted to cause him pain, he wanted him to suffer!

"Axel." Roxas said weakly before he was flung into the air. Starkiller dropped his lightsaber and shot a torrent of force lightning into the boy. As the boy landed Starkiller picked up his lightsaber and strode over to him. Roxas uttered a weak laugh.

"So this is what death feels like?" he said before collapsing. A blob of dark energy encircled the boy and the body vanished.

"What the hell is going on here?" Starkiller asked before collapsing on the sand in exhaustion.

-

Hope I did well. I tried to make it fast paced like the battles in Force Unleashed. Hopefully I at least made this entertaining.


End file.
